Davide Nadali, 2016, Review of E. Bleibtreu, H.U.Steymans (eds.), Edith Porada zum 100. Geburtstag. A Centenary Volume (OBO 268), Academic Press/Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Fribourg/Göttingen 2014.

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the author writes extensively, considering the use of fire as “1. Das Anzünden”, “2. Das Brennen” and “3. Das Löschen” in all texts of Telipinu’s group (p. 215ff), to further study the role of fire in individual passages of TM (p. 234ff). The author continues to review “Beschwörung mit BULÙG ‘malt’”, “Beschwörung mit GIŠPISÀN ‘Regenrinne’”, the “Rituale mit Weißdorn” (Hitt. ‫ې‬atalkešna-tree), among other ritualistic aspects of the texts, to finish the chapter with a study of the return of the god and the rituals related to the eyantree (“Eichenbaum”, p. 304ff). Moving forward, we find that in comparison to Chap. II, Chap. III is shorter, including a review of the overall texts and an analysis of the different “phases” these myths display: all of which allows Asan to take the arguments previously outlined a step forward, and synthesize ideas. Moreover, Chap. III also includes a dating criterion, which is shown in comparative tables of word variations, brief considerations on the texts’ Sitz im Leben, as well as a focus on various peculiarities displayed by the texts in their comparison. In conclusion, the book is well-recommended and fulfils the reader’s expectations. It displays an exhaustive methodology assisted by visual tools (tables and tablet schemes), and brings the reader a full comprehension of the author’s research over a large amount of Hittite religious texts. Romina Della Casa (Buenos Aires) Bibliography Košak, S. Konkordanz der hethitischen Keilschrifttafeln. Visited: 30/02/2015. In: Laroche, E. 1965. “Mythologie anatolienne (Textes mythologiques hittites en transcription I)”. In: RHA 23/77, Paris. Rieken, E. and J. Lorenz. 2010. “Überlegungen zur Verwendung mythologischer Texte bei den Hethitern”. In: J. Fincke (ed.), Festschrift für Gernot Wilhelm anläßlich seines 65. Geburtstages am 28. Januar 2010. Dresden: ISLET-Verlag, 217-234. van den Hout, Th. 2005. “A Classified Past: Classification of Knowledge in the Hittite Empire”. In: R. Biggs et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the 51st Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale. Dedicated to the Memory of Erica Reiner (Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilizations 62), Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 211-220. B l e i b t r e u , E r i k a ; S t e y m a n s , H a n s U l r i c h (eds.): Edith Porada zum 100. Geburtstag. A Centenary Volume. Fribourg / Göttingen: Academic Press / Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2014 (Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 268). 642 Pages. ISBN 978-37278-1754-0. € 152,00. The book celebrates the 100th birthday of Edith Porada (1912-1994) and the publication had originally been planned for 2012. The book came out in 2014 and includes twenty articles by Porada that principally present her studies and analyses of the production of ancient Near Eastern seals. As stated by the editors, the book reprints Porada’s articles which can otherwise be difficult to obtain: this is doubtless useful and coherent, although I would have probably chosen other studies to include the variety of scientific interests of Porada and, therefore, her insightful contributions to other fields of Near Eastern iconography (e.g. her analyses of the Assyrian reliefs and the representations of architecture, examples that, of course, reflect my personal interests in archaeological and art-historical



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research). Nevertheless, the choice, even encompassing Porada’s hitherto unpublished PhD dissertation, offers a complete view of Porada’s intuitions and analyses of Near Eastern seals, not only from Mesopotamia: indeed, I think that her studies on the “peripheral” productions of seals, the seals from Iran, Syria and the Aegean area,1 produced the most interesting considerations and conclusions that are still valid, particularly after the growth of studies in the areas that have so far been considered “peripheral”. In particular, the reading of Porada’s contributions to the study and analysis of ancient seals of different Near Eastern areas (also encompassing other regions such as Cyprus and the Aegean) shows how the context of the findings is a fundamental aspect of the correct evaluation of ancient seals: in this respect, Porada’s analyses do not simply take into consideration styles and content of the scenes, but also include the reconstruction, when possible, of the archaeological context. Seals are therefore treated as archaeological documents, giving information not only for their content, but also for their position in the archaeological strata: in fact, it might have happened that seals were continuously used and reused in later times and can therefore be found in later archaeological contexts. As a consequence, the use of seals as a chronological marker can be problematic, but at the same time, seals deliver other kinds of information that archaeologists can gather, such as the transmission of the same seal from one generation to another, the reuse (sometimes seals were also re-carved) of the same seal by a heir, and the concrete use of the seal if impressed on clay sealings that precisely document administrative transactions and activities. For that reason, the archaeological context, when available, is essential to comprehend the importance of ancient seals that we sometimes tend to consider only from the art-historical and iconographical point of view. However, iconographic studies and approaches are not necessarily wrong (although they might be limited) and require a high degree of attention to detect specificities, and thus recognize not only the content of the scenes (the topic of the story represented, for example, or the identification of the characters) but also the stylistic differences which might point to chronological markers and regional differences; in fact, Porada precisely states that “to be appreciated, cylinder seals require excellent eyes, time, and patience. But photographic enlargements may help to convey, even at a glance, the [a]esthetic pleasure, and archaeological significance offered by these diminutive works of ancient art” (p. 154 of the volume under review). Photographic enlargements are indeed a very interesting aspect of seal studies that has recently been deeply analysed by Irene J. Winter: namely, how those enlargements actually falsify and twist the perspective of the perception of ancient art works.2 On the one hand, they doubtless contribute to the comprehension and study of the smallest details of the representation; on the other, they necessarily distort the truth of the proportion and real visual perception ancient people had of these “diminutive works of ancient art”. Moreover, although it might be superfluous, it is important to bear in mind

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Periphery, of course, only if one considers Mesopotamia the main and central area of production. Irene I. Winter (2000), “Le palais imaginaire: Scale and Meaning in the Iconography of Neo-Assyrian Cylinder Seals”, in C. Uehlinger (ed.): Images as Media: Sources for the Cultural History of the Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean (1st Millennium BCE), Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 175. Fribourg: Academic Press, pp. 51-87.

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that the representation is clearly visible and readable in all its components only after cylinder seals have been rolled on soft clay: this is a necessary condition, otherwise it would be impossible to grasp the content of the engraved images by keeping the seal in the hands only. Porada’s careful analyses of cylinder seals took both aspects into consideration: the importance of the impression and the seal itself as an object and these considerations can be specifically appreciated in her evaluations of genuine and false cylinder seals. As concerns the dating of cylinder seals, I have already noted how the archaeological context is a fundamental component as cylinder seals might have been used in later times by heirs and other officials: as a consequence, a seal, as well as its impression on a clay sealing or bulla, must be suitably considered in its context to be a sure chronological marker of the stratum. Moreover, as it often happens in Mesopotamian archaeology, dating is given through cultural definitions (Early Dynastic, Akkadian, Neo-Sumerian, Old Babylonian etc.) instead of archaeological phases (Early Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age, Late Bronze Age etc.): an interesting consideration of Porada is when she states that “in order to express these facts the writer suggests that the designations ‘Isin-Larsa’ and ‘First Dynasty of Babylon’ be abandoned in favor of ‘early Old Babylonian’ and ‘late Old Babylonian’ respectively” (p. 162 of the volume under review). This brief annotation is extremely important and it denotes Porada’s attention in using the terminology and definitions, and indicates her awareness of archaeological problems with chronology already by 1950: her contribution in the most recent debates and discussion about chronology (I refer specifically to the ARCANE and SCIEM projects) would have been extremely important and insightful in giving Mesopotamian archaeology a chronological reference system that can then be rightly and easily compared to the neighbouring areas of Syria, the Levant, Anatolia, and Iran. The on-going use of a properly differentiated Mesopotamian terminology (that was also initially employed in non-Mesopotamian regions) makes Mesopotamia a kind of isolated and, according to some perspectives, privileged area, while the most interesting results (as the studies of Porada has largely shown) come from the interchange and communication between the different regions of the Ancient Near East. I think that the most important and useful contribution of the editorial operation of E. Bleibtreu and H.U. Steymans stems from the special attention Porada gave to what had once been considered the peripheral areas of the Ancient Near East: the forced ending of archaeological research in Mesopotamia from 1990 actually gave “peripheral” areas a central role that Porada had already rightly acknowledged and singled out for further research. It is impossible to give a precise comment on all articles collected by the editors: however, the final result (although the choice mainly focused on Porada’s interests in cylinder and stamp seals) shows the value of Porada’s thoughts and evaluations to modern studies, which find a really richer meaning in the light of the fact that our knowledge of Syrian archaeology is broader and more comprehensive. The contribution of Porada is therefore still extremely valid and the articles collected in the volume show how her considerations can be used as a starting point for further analyses and researches in many fields (not only for cylinder seals) of Ancient Near Eastern studies. It would surely have been a near impossible task or too complex a duty, but it would have been extremely interesting to quote at least a selection of recent articles and studies that would have shown how Porada’s ideas anticipated recent debates of Near Eastern archaeology; what is extremely important, particularly for future generations of archaeologists, is the necessity of starting from old studies (being old does not mean they are consequently useless and obsolete), having also the



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linguistic tools to access bibliographies in different languages (while the recent tendency focuses on published articles, preferably in English).3 Indeed, the three sections of the volume are preceded by articles that point out the originality of Porada’s studies and analyses and how her contributions helped in opening new lines of research that have been particularly prolific in Syria and Iran: the East-West transfer or, if we want, the East-West direction of Porada’s research finds explanation and confirmation in the most recent trends of the archaeological research in the Near East, going beyond the unique centrality of Mesopotamia. The contributions by Joan Aruz and Holly Pittman indicate how new discoveries from Syria and Iran completed the (then largely unknown) world of Syria (to the west of Mesopotamia and opening farther to the West) and Iran (to the east of Mesopotamia with very peculiar regional characteristics). It is a pity, however, that Aruz still considers Ibbi-zikir the last king of Ebla (p. 256), while it is now known that Ibbi-zikir was the vizier of Ishar-damu, the last king of Ebla in the age of the state archives of the Early Bronze Age IVA.4 The volume selected articles and studies that reflect Porada’s way of approaching Ancient Near Eastern art: as precisely concerns cylinder seals, the careful consideration of even the smallest detail marks the uniqueness of Porada’s methodology, where the sometimes too simplistic definitions of “filling motifs” and “symbolic elements” are used to classify, rather than explain and signify, the single components of the scenes engraved onto the seals. The most important and essential point of departure is the work of art, the object itself (i.e. the cylinder seal in the context of Porada’s consideration), and its archaeological context that, when known and available, is the most fruitful condition by which to deeply understand the past and the use of those objects in the past from those people who eventually created them. Davide Nadali (Rome) K l o e k h o r s t , A l w i n : Accent in Hittite. A Study in Plene Spelling, Consonant Gradation, Clitics and Metrics. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2014 (Studien zu den Bo÷azköyTexten 56). xxxv + 716 Pages. ISBN 978-3-447-10208-7. € 98,00. The book under review represents the main outcome of the research project “Stressing the facts; Accentuation in Hittite” sponsored by the Netherlands organization for Scientific research in 2008-2012. The stated goal of this project was to present a detailed description of the Hittite accentual system, focusing on both the place and nature of the accent in the Hittite language. The author shares the basic premise of modern Hittitology, according to which the most reliable guide to determining the place of accent in Hittite are the so-called plene spellings in cuneiform orthography, which involve a seemingly redundant use of vowel signs. For example, the usual plene spelling of -e- in pé-e-da-an ‘place’, as opposed to pé-da-an, indicates the lengthening of the etymological *e in accented position. On the other hand, the usual lack of plene spelling of -a- in pé-e-da-aš ‘he carried’, as opposed to

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R. Bernbeck (2008), “Archaeology and English as Imperial lingua franca”, in Archaeologies 4/1, pp. 168-170. A. Archi (2001), “The King-Lists from Ebla”, in T. Abusch et al. (eds.): Proceedings of the XLVe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Part I, Harvard University: Historiography in the Cuneiform World. Bethesda, Maryland: CDL Press, pp. 1-13.